10,102 Shares in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) Purchased by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 10,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,588,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 17.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,959,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $501,907,000 after purchasing an additional 291,134 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in MarketAxess by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,828,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,580,000 after acquiring an additional 170,095 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in MarketAxess by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,338,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,042 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of MarketAxess by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 820,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,447,000 after acquiring an additional 285,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of MarketAxess by 4.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 443,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,978,000 after purchasing an additional 17,996 shares during the last quarter. 99.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard M. Mcvey sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.67, for a total transaction of $2,676,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 562,029 shares in the company, valued at $150,438,302.43. The trade was a 1.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of MarketAxess in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MarketAxess from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised MarketAxess from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on MarketAxess from $193.00 to $185.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MarketAxess from $262.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.50.

MarketAxess Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of MKTX stock opened at $258.69 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $273.46 and its 200 day moving average is $239.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 1.05. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $192.42 and a 12 month high of $297.97.

MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.05. MarketAxess had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 34.32%. The firm had revenue of $206.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $207.17 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that MarketAxess Holdings Inc. will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

MarketAxess declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 6th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MarketAxess Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. MarketAxess’s payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

MarketAxess Company Profile

MarketAxess Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. The company offers trading technology that provides liquidity access in U.S. high-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, emerging market debt, eurobonds, municipal bonds, U.S.